"A realm within a realm, I should've thought so." I was no longer in the clustered fairy city, this much was clear.
The moment I'd steeped onto castle soil, there was nothing surrounding me, even my escorts were gone. Nothing except for eternal darkness.
Soothing, calm, embracing, everlasting. The very characteristics of a conceptualised existence. "Nay a distinct remark..."
The being inviting me here eventually spoke up, its voice androgynous and ill-fittingly raspy for a fairy.
"...hath cometh first. Wherefore art this so?" The creature didn't leave me time to answer, providing one herself soon enough.
"P'rhaps the lasteth vestiges of longeth past nonchalance. P'rhaps the halcyon of a sov'reign dost compel thee to. P'rhaps the answ'r art simplicity"
"You are wrong." Trying to birth some necessary furniture from my memories, I was positively surprised when a cosy wood stove and two armchairs came into being.
"I simply have nothing to smash you with should you wish me ill." Contrary to my grim words, I happily sat down on one armchair, finding relish in the relaxation this simple action provided.
"What use is to worry? Let's hear your demands, elder fairy." The very fabric of space parted above the other armchair adjacent to mine, revealing an even darker patch of darkness, if that was possible.
The elder fairy had the physical appearance of a teenager, only that no detail could be made out concerning the actual body.
The creature was a silhouette at most, so easily dismissed. But at the same time, it was covered in a brilliant sheen not unlike the starry sky.
Put differently, that existence was contradictory in nature. In any case, I couldn't even make out its gender.
Not that this was strange since conceptualised existences were truly timeless, perfect reflections of their state of mind.
They may be male one day and female the other. A grass stalk for a year or a little pebble for centuries...
I wouldn't be surprised if the elder fairy told me the next instance that her true body spanned on for miles, lording even over my beloved castle Aethernum.
"Mine own visiteth'rs doth not usually playeth by the rules." "Of course not. Seldom had a creature accept the endless might that is required to freeze time. It runs counter to reason."
"Yet I doth not wisheth harmeth upon anyone." "You have the means and that is what counts." Silence descended upon us.
Some peaceful minutes tickled by in which I simply enjoyed the cosiness of this fabulous armchair and the soothing crackling of the fire.
"Counsel from an exp'rt, I presume?" The elder fairy didn't linger long on my words, taking up the conversation soon after.
"What purpose doest thy homecoming s'rve? Art to retake controleth over f'rtune, to subjugate fate and propagate thy f'rm of sooth and ord'r?"
I didn't know why this was so. It might've been that this fireplace conjured from a certain, deeply cherished memory flipped just the right switch.
Or the knowledge that with time fooled, I need not fear the youth and her excessive antics, nor the clock ticking by. As for the dark fairy's fears, I didn't think of them as strange.
Such were rightful thoughts well-grounded in the realm of possibilities for anyone knowing my past self.
"Is it so hard to accept? My goal expressed in the notion of finding a home? *My* home? To recuperate and deal with the seals shackling me?"
The elder fairy didn't reply immediately, opting for careful judgement. I, for once, was content with its silence.
The longer the elder fairy kept me here, the greater the effect this much-deserved break had on my weary body. "Thee speaketh sooth" "I do." "So shalt I."
"...you may." An androgynous giggle resounded all over this realm of nothingness. "Aye, I shalt. In the nameth of Opal Woodpuff, I beseech thee, creature of y're, to breaketh the locketh.
Shaketh off the unduly imposed limitations, shatt'r the restrictive confines" "...and what makes you believe I will? There is no gain to be had."
Opal Woodpuff giggled again, the voice as crisp as the shattering of a realm. To state I wasn't taken aback by that level of power and feared nothing was bullshit.
I just had greater self-control than most. Especially more so than others of my species, now long since gone.
"Fate art fickle, fate art ev'rchanging," the elder fairy continued unabated, "fate art not lief to us, yet a loyal companion to thee.
Its rules may glance favourably upon thee, yet nobody evades its trials." "Granted, I had a better time than most—and please note, *had*.
But look where this brought me." "Thou art alife." Opal Woodpuff cut me short, pointing out the most evident loophole in my elaboration. A simple truth I couldn't disparge.
"Indeed... I am. Though the price is steep." I answered curtly, not liking it very much to shine light onto this particular topic.
"To breaketh free means to awaken. Thee shalt not indulge thineself in passivity." "Give a man his well-deserved rest, won't you?"
The elder fairy didn't reply, making it abundantly clear that I won't get another time-stop at the ready whenever I so desire.
"Sigh... nothing good ever lasts. Your bargaining chip is support, my is the height we both know I reached and shall reach once more.
Don't you feel I'm taken advantage of? In the past, your demise would've been certain, had you shown such impudence."
"I doth not restrict thine freedom." Fair enough... "So how are we tackling this? A bloody frontal assault? Don't think I have the chops for that nor do you the soldiers."
"Certes thee gleek. We shalt meeteth an ally near the central chamb'r, home to the Central Node. We provideth protection, thee the resolution to our ingraft problem."
"Overwriting the artificial logic won't be easy. It will require time too. And me, in one piece to boot. You sure this helper of yours is up for the challenge."
"Me doust split in two suffice." Which meant Opal Woodpuff wasn't going to request her people's help. None of that lot was even remotely comparable to the elder fairy.
"Your investment is huge. Yet the payout is by far worth it if I succeed. Fine by me. Whatever requirements you have can wait for the future."
I added, just to be perfectly clear, "the distant future." Opal Woodpuff nodded, the expulsion force weighing on my ethereal body soon after.
"I'm sure it's not required, but just in case let me tell you this: If the youth is put in harm's way, our cooperation is bloody over!"
A foreign, reassuring thought drifted against the wreckage I call my sea of consciousness. Opal Woodpuff's reply, no doubt.
Now... I cracked my knuckles. Let's whip that darn Central Node's metaphorical ass! How dare it see the creator as a nuisance!
Ignoring the other dark fairies surrounding me, I stepped into the whirl of colours that'd appeared in front of me. Yet only much too late did I notice the Great Consciousness' vehement warning.